Coming Home
by Fallon-Idalia
Summary: ***A short story companion piece to "Wolves of the Pine". Peace may have been restored to Albion, but in order to bring peace to her troubled brother Maya needs to set his healing in motion and fulfil a promise she made to him before the Darkness came. The pieces of his past need to be drawn together and it all starts with her - the one taken from him over a year ago.
1. I: Welcomed News

**Disclaimer:** The Fable universe, alas, is not mine. I am merely borrowing it for the purposes of this story. Characters you do not recognize (i.e. Von, Ezra, Azrael, Shiloh etc.) are mine however. This story will contain mature subjects and while not particularly gory, will have *ahem* a rather intimate reunion. You have been warned.

This short story is a companion piece to "Wolves of the Pine", which is a much longer story written by myself that contains many characters and events of my own creation. I suppose this can be read without having read "Wolves", although some of the references might not make sense without giving "Wolves" a read.

This story takes place only a few months after the events of "Wolves".

Many thanks for reading! And to those who are eagerly awaiting the sequel to "Wolves" I hope this tides you over! – Fallon.

**Part I**

_"Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance" - Richard von Weizsaecker_

Maya gave an exhausted sigh of defeat as Jasper dropped another armful of petitions, audience requests and various other correspondences on her desk. By the time the papers stopped falling, she could hardly see the polished oak of her desk.

Her sigh turned into a frustrated groan.

Since defeating the Crawler her days were spent more often that naught eye deep in paperwork, locked her study as she began the process of rebuilding her country. It was a far less glamorous task than she expected it to be, but peace was returning to Albion so she kept her frustrations to herself.

She began sorting through the mountain before her.

"Have we heard word from Brightwall, Jasper? Have the problems with looting been taken care of?"

"Hmmm," Jasper hummed as he too began sifting through the paperwork, "I thought I saw a letter with Major Finn's seal on it…here!"

He picked a crumpled envelope from the pile and handed it to her.

Maya snatched it from his hand and tore it open. In the months since she defeated the Crawler much had been done to prepare for the rebuilding of major cities across Albion. Bowerstone was coming together nicely, but they still had years of work ahead of them before things returned to the way they were prior to the Darkness. Brightwall was having particular trouble with looters and she'd sent Ben there a month ago to control the situation so labourers could move in to begin repairs.

She was eager to hear back from him.

Maya scanned the parchment, pausing periodically when deciphering Ben's handwriting was particularly challenging.

"How goes it then, my dear?" Jasper asked when he suspected she neared the end.

Maya drew a fresh piece of parchment from her desk and dipped her quill in ink.

"Hopeful," she answered as she started to write, "Major Finn is requesting another dozen men to help patrol the city's boundaries, keep trouble out of the city before it reaches the people."

Jasper nodded. He knew without asking that she was writing her consent to him now. Even if she had to redirect men from her own guard, she would see that Finn had the men he needed to keep the people of Brightwall safe.

She finished and reached for the candle that burned on the corner of her desk, pouring melted wax on the parchment and securing it closed with her seal.

Maya handed it to him and turned her focus back to the pile she had yet to conquer. She picked through it aimlessly.

"Anything else of importance you noticed in this mountain you have before me, Jasper?"

He nodded and pulled a carefully folded letter from the breast pocket of his jacket. While not important to the functioning of the country, he knew it was important for her and he'd set it aside to ensure it wasn't lost in the shuffle.

Soon after defeating the Crawler, she had begun inquiring about a young lady exiled to the Temple of Avo in Mistpeak Valley. She had little doubt that the woman was there, but after darkness had visited the land Maya wanted to make sure she was alive before telling her brother anything.

As stern as he was, she saw fragility in her brother that she hadn't noticed before. He was an asset to her, both as an advisor and as a friend, but with so many others in the city and in court he was merely tolerated. She knew it bothered him, walking around all day under the gaze of those who lacked all trust and faith in him. It wore on him both physically and mentally. Logan wanted to find his place, to earn back the trust he had lost, but to be considered a villain by most dampened his spirits.

Von was kind to him; in fact the two had striked up a friendship of sorts since they confronted Ezra and his apprentice in the outskirts of Silverpines, but the sadness in her brother remained.

And she understood why.

Von had been taken from her once before and she had been hopelessly lost and without joy. It was a sadness that had infiltrated her very soul like a disease, one that would have been the death of her without Scarlet's intervention. She saw that same sorrow in Logan, that same crippling pain that made it feel as though hope had failed you.

She needed to fulfill her promise to Logan.

_Please let her be alive…_

She slowly opened the letter, fearful that horrible news lay within.

Jasper watched her with anticipation. He knew what the stakes were and despite the anger he felt at Logan at the start of Maya's journey, he had learned to forgive the former king. He wanted to see Logan have a sliver of happiness as badly as Maya did.

The room was deathly silent as he waited for any indication from her.

"Your Grace?"

A smile bloomed on Maya's lips and a relieved sigh escaped her lips.

_Thank Avo!_

She scrambled for a piece of parchment and knocked a dozen correspondences from her desk in the process. She couldn't care less – her brother's love was alive! She could fulfill her promise to him!

"Jasper, tell the maids to prepare my old rooms and inform the captain of my guard that I need a handful of his most trusted soldiers to escort a young woman from Mistpeak to the castle. Discretely of course, old friend, until she is here I don't want Logan to know. I don't want his hopes to rise only to be smashed."

Maya tried to contain her excitement. The young woman could always refuse her invitation and if that did come to pass it would be far kinder for Maya to tell her brother that she died rather than tell him the truth.

The old butler bowed with a smile, "Of course, Maya."

As he left to carry out her wishes, she dipped her quill in the ink and started writing.

* * *

As she stepped out of the temple, a bitter gust of wind whipped over her and sent a powerful shiver down her body that stopped her in her tracks. She hugged her cloak tighter to her thin frame and squeezed her eyes shut against the wind, remaining still until the wind mercifully subsided.

Despite how long she had been in the temple, she had not grown accustomed to the brutal cold of the valley. It was a constant reminder of her punishment, of her exile from all she had ever known.

When it died down, she opened her eyes and continued down the path to the gatehouse. The Temple of Avo in Mistpeak Valley was perched on one of the highest mountains and surrounded by jagged, snow caped rocks that made getting to it very difficult. The temple, a safe haven for many of the women and orphans it housed, was a prison to her.

Its secluded location was only a part of what made her life so miserably lonely. She had no friends and no family; all had disowned her when her name and honor was 'smeared'. And yet once every week she made the trek down to the gatehouse, the furthest point from the main compound that she was permitted to go to, regardless of how poorly the weather was, and checked in with the attendants there to see if she had any letters.

In the first few weeks of her exile to the temple, she held out hope that her mother or younger brother would defy her father and visit her in secret, but they did not. As the weeks dragged on she hoped for a letter from them at the very least, but none had ever come. So she had given up on them and with a heavy heart had tried to confine her memories of them to the furthest reaches of her mind.

They had left her, severed her from their lives and cast her out. She might had given up on them, but there was one she could not bring herself to lose faith in – _him_.

He'd pushed her away so adamantly at first, kept his barriers up and denied what she knew he felt. She hadn't left him though, despite how fiercely he had demanded her to, and over time he'd told her everything, confided in her and trusted her with his secrets and fears. What happened in Aurora, what the seer Theresa told him…and the nightmares that plagued him all made her even more determined to bring what light she could into his life. He wasn't evil, he wasn't without compassion and in the moments when he'd let his barriers down, when they'd been alone together…she'd never been so happy in all her life.

But that had been torn from her.

_He _was hundreds of miles away and in all the time she'd been in exile, she'd not received a single letter from him.

She knew he had lost his throne to his sister, the temple had heard word of that from Brightwall. They'd also received word that he had been pardoned by his sister shortly thereafter. But was he alive now? And if so, why hadn't he sent for her? Where was he?

She hung her head as the possibility she'd been struggling with for so long came to the forefront of her mind, as it often did when she dwelled on all she had lost.

_Perhaps he never cared…perhaps he was glad to see me gone, after getting what he wanted from me…_

The seclusion had broken her down. She was physically exhausted and so very tired of being sad. On more than one occasion, she questioned why she hadn't thrown herself from her window or walked into one of the storms that were commonplace so high in the valley. She wasn't wanted; her family had made that clear enough, but the small glimmer of hope that she'd see Logan again and that the feelings he claimed to have for her remained kept her going.

She snorted in mock amusement at her own childish dreams.

_You hope for too much…Avo has no time for the prayers of the tyrant king's mistress…_

She took a deep breath to steady herself, brushed the tear streaks from her cheeks and opened the heavy wood and steel door to the gatehouse.

The warmth of the hearth struck her and rid the chill from her bones immediately. Despite the fact only a handful of attendants were assigned to the gatehouse at any given time, the fire was massive and positioned in the center of the room before a carved stone sun nearly twenty feet high - the symbol of Avo.

She lowered the hood of her cloak and untucked her long blonde hair as she approached the attendant tending to the shrine at the base of the sun.

"Excuse me?"

The young man kneeling before the shrine jumped, startled at the sudden interruption of the duties which consumed him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She said quickly, "I didn't mean to startle you!"

The man smiled as he caught his breath, "No harm done. I didn't hear you enter, miss."

She arched her brow and motioned back to the large set of doors she had come through. "Those doors are heavy, sir, were you so focused on your task you heard nothing?"

He turned back to his work, "A tendency of mine, miss, I apologize. I often get so focused on the shrine that I see and hear little else. Avo asks from us dedication, not only to him but any task we take on. I am devoted to this shrine and through meditation I attune myself to his will." He smiled hopefully, "Am I correct in assuming you have made the trek down from the main compound to join me in mediation, miss?"

She forced a polite smile, "Another time perhaps. I was hoping to see if I had received any mail, good sir."

He stood and wiped the ash from his hands on his robe.

"Of course, this way, miss."

She followed him to a small nook near the front of the building and watched him unlock the large worn wooden box mail couriers dropped parcels and letters in. She'd always wondered why it was so large, as there was only ever a few lonely letters at the bottom.

_At least I'm not the only forgotten one at the temple…_

He revealed a small handful of only two or three letters.

He turned to her with an awkward look on his face, "I'm sorry, miss, I didn't get your name."

She told him her name and he flipped through the letters, handing her a single letter from the bottom of the pile.

She held it as if it was a foreign object.

"Are you…certain, sir?"

He pointed to her name written in tight, elegant cursive on the front of the letter.

"It's yours, miss."

He left without saying another word, retreating to the safety of his shrine and leaving her to her letter.

She looked at it again and was half expecting another name to be on the front, but her name remained.

_E. Hawthorne._

She approached the shrine and took a seat on one of the pews facing the stone sun of Avo.

She turned the letter over and was faced with the royal seal of Albion.


	2. II: A Chance

**Disclaimer:** The Fable universe, alas, is not mine. I am merely borrowing it for the purposes of this story. Characters you do not recognize (i.e. Von, Ezra, Azrael, Shiloh etc.) are mine however. This story will contain mature subjects and while not particularly gory, will have *ahem* a rather intimate reunion. You have been warned.

This short story is a companion piece to "Wolves of the Pine", which is a much longer story written by myself that contains many characters and events of my own creation. I suppose this can be read without having read "Wolves", although some of the references might not make sense without giving "Wolves" a read.

This story takes place only a few months after the events of "Wolves".

Many thanks for reading! And to those who are eagerly awaiting the sequel to "Wolves" I hope this tides you over! – Fallon.

**Part II**

"_Only the misfortune of exile can provide the in-depth understanding and the overview into the realities of the world" – Stefan Zweig_

Her heart stopped and for a moment she forgot how to breathe.

Just over a year ago the royal seal would mean _him_, her Logan. Now it meant his sister, the woman who'd overthrown him.

She was the former lover of a hated, tyrant king; what could the Queen possibly have to say to her? Did she write to gloat, to rub Logan's fate in her face? Was this the letter she'd been dreading? Did it contain news of his death?

So many questions ripped through her mind, so many fears. If Logan was dead than there was nothing holding her to this world. Her family wanted nothing to do with her and any friend she'd had before had forgotten her when she was exiled. Logan was it, he was everything; the small and beautiful opportunity she had once had at happiness.

She choked back tears.

It had been so fragile back then, their happiness. Logan had told her from the beginning that it could end at any moment, that any day could be their last. There was a revolution brewing in the land and he had seemed so certain that it would end with him in the ground.

Those moments with him had been the hardest. To see Logan without hope was crushing and she had always felt so horribly helpless. She'd usually silenced his concerns with a kiss, hoping to delay that dreaded moment a little longer. But in the end it had come. He was gone and she was miserably alone on a frigid mountain top.

A shaky breath left her lips as nervous energy bubbled up inside of her.

She was absolutely terrified of opening the letter and for a moment considered tossing it into the massive fire, a fragment of her past life as an offering to Avo. Not knowing might be easier than having the loss of him rubbed in her face.

_Enough of this…_

She gathered her strength and set her gaze upon the fire.

Something stopped her though, a small stubborn hope that halted her just as she moved to make for the fire. It was a whisper of a question, a 'what if' that couldn't be ignored. However small the chance was that the letter contained good news, it was a chance, one that she had been waiting over a year for.

She settled back down on the pew and held the letter up, rubbing her thumb over the seal.

_Please, please let him be alive...let him love me still…_

She slipped her finger under the seal, popping it free of the parchment and unfolded it carefully.

* * *

_Bowerstone Castle_

_Albion_

_From the office of her Majesty Queen Amaythea_

_Miss Elise Hawthorne,_

_Words cannot express my elation at learning that you had survived the Darkness that recently swept across the land. I have a matter to discuss with you and I pray that you continue reading, as this matter deals with my brother, Logan._

_He is very much alive, despite what you may have heard, and is currently serving me most loyally as an adviser and confidant. _

_I am writing to you personally in the hopes of fulfilling a promise I made to Logan not long ago. He has told me of you and of what you mean to him. Perhaps it is difficult to believe, but his happiness is of great importance to me. I swore to him in his moment of confession that I would find you and offer you a place back at the castle, as well as a pardon from whatever your family has accused you of. _

_I am most hopeful that you will accept this invitation and that your feelings for him remain. Much sorrow has entered his life and it would bring me joy to return a piece of happiness to him. Loving someone troubled and beaten down by the burdens of the world takes an incredible amount of bravery and devotion. I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you soon._

_I implore you to respond swiftly so that I might dispatch an escort to bring you home._

_Yours most sincerely,_

_Maya_

* * *

Fresh tears cascaded down her cheeks as a joy she'd not known in months flooded her body and soul.

She re-read the letter, careful to make sure she did not read it wrong, and clutched it to her chest when, mercifully, the words remained the same.

He was alive! She could go home to him! No more loneliness, no more painful cold wearing at her spirit!

There was an end to her exile in sight!

She inhaled deeply to steady herself and control the frantic beating of her heart and was surprised to feel a nagging, quiet question enter her heart.

_If he missed me, why didn't he write? Why didn't he send for me?_

He certainly had the power to do so. He was the king, yes, but more than that he'd claimed to care for her. Granted he had never spoken those three precious words she had longed to hear, but his actions had told her that it was more than mere 'care' that he felt for her.

He'd bared his soul to her, opened up like she never though he was capable of…something she couldn't see him doing if she meant nothing more to him than a bed-warmer.

_Maybe…maybe it was a charade…_

Maybe the depth of his affection for her had been the naïve hopes of a foolish child. Goodness knows she had been reminded numerous times since leaving Bowerstone how foolish, irresponsible, dishonorable and naïve she had been. And there were only so many times she could be called worthless, a horrible disappointment of a child, before she started believing it herself. Her father had made sure the scope of her err was drilled into her before he abandoned her at the temple's gatehouse. By then, his words had become a twisted mantra to her. Even now, after giving up on her family, it was difficult to fight against the strangle hold his disappointment had on her. When she closed her eyes, she could still hear him berating her.

Elise hung her head as memories of that shame resurfaced. She remembered it so vividly, it may as well have just occurred.

Her mother standing there stone-faced, her father furious and shouting at her…

Elise looked at the letter again.

It held the chance she'd been waiting for, her ticket home.

But it wasn't without risk.

Was it worth taking when the chance for heartache was lingering in the distance? Time changes and wears down feelings and souls, or so she'd come to believe of others. Her love for him hadn't faded, but if her family was able to cleanly cut her out of their lives it was not a stretch to fear that he could do the same. Elise wasn't sure what she would do or how she would feel if he told her he never tried to seek her out. It would be just as painful as learning that his feelings for her weren't as strong as she'd believed them to be.

She wasn't sure if she could bear to hear him say such things.

Elise bit her lip and nervously rubbed the letter's wax seal.

She recalled something the Queen had said in her letter and it ignited a determination in her that, while unable to extinguish her fears entirely, made her hold her head high as the possibility of confronting them began to solidify.

'_Loving someone troubled and beaten down by the burdens of the world takes an incredible amount of bravery…'_

There was only one way to get the answers she feared but needed. And she realized it would require the same bravery Maya had spoken of.

She rose and carefully tucked the letter in the satchel on her belt and headed for a narrow staircase tucked away in the corner of the gatehouse. It wasn't an area she was technically permitted to visit and she found herself thankful the young man attending to the shrine was so engrossed in his duties. She moved as quickly as she could, her determination pushing her upwards despite the protest of her legs, and she reached the top, pausing only briefly to catch her breath. An errant blonde curl fell forward, grazing her cheek, and she tucked it messily behind her ear as her breathing evened out.

Elise pushed open the only door on the small landing and was greeted by the shrill caws of a dozen ravens. Due to the secluded nature of the temple, the most urgent correspondences were sent via raven. They were often considered more trustworthy and reliable than a simple courier and were well cared for as a result.

"Who goes there?"

Elise cringed. She had hoped the raven's nest wouldn't have an attendant on duty and she could get her letter off without anyone being the wiser.

A ragged looking old woman approached from around a corner of cages, her face wrinkled and weathered and her eyes squinting in effort to see her.

Elise had never sent a raven before. Residents of the temple were restricted to using couriers due to the volume and size of letters sent, but couriers took too long and Elise felt a pressing need to respond to the Queen as quickly as possible. Ravens carried messages no more than a few small lines in length that could be fixed to their thin legs but they were fast and hardy, able to withstand the bitter winds of the Valley and fly far without rest. Elise didn't need to write volumes, she needed that letter to get in the Queen's hands.

She moved to stand before the old raven keeper, "I'd like to send a letter by raven, madam. It's most urgent."

The woman hummed as she considered Elise's request.

"Do you have a senior attendant's sealed consent?"

"I…well, no, ma'am. But please, I need to respond to this letter from the Queen." She drew the letter from her satchel and held it out to the old woman. "I received this today, please ma'am, I'm not playing you false. Feel the seal, it is from Her Majesty."

The woman seemed skeptical but reached out and Elise gently guided her hand onto the wax seal. Her bad eyes scanned the room as she considered the seal under her twisted fingers.

_Please, please believe me…_

"Hmmm, crown with three spikes…curve of the Guild Seal is there, yes…" Her fingers left the seal and felt the paper, "This is rich parchment…costs a pretty penny…"

There was an awkward silence and Elise tried to catch the woman's attention, moving back into her line of sight.

The old woman suddenly perked up, clasping her hands together softly.

"Well why not then," she shuffled back the way she came and started sifting through piles of dusty parchment, searching for a fresh sheet, "The attendants down there in your great temple are far too stuffy for my liking, making silly rules to put some excitement in their boring lives."

Elise smiled as the woman ranted as she searched.

"Might I know your name, madam?"

The old woman poked her head up from a mountain of books and maps, "I didn't tell you? How rude! Mum would be most offended, yes she would! Rolling in her grave she is!" She approached her with a thin slip of blank parchment that Elise had no idea how she managed to find in the chaos of the nest, "My name is Violet. And you dear girl can tell those stuffy old farts downstairs that I'd like to see more visitors up here! A woman gets lonely talking to nought but glorified pigeons all day."

Elise chuckled and took the slip from her, "I will, Violet, thank you very much for letting me do this. My name is Elise."

Violet shuffled to an old rocking chair near the raven's pens.

"Hmmm, pretty name. No trouble, my dear. You write what needs writing there and I'll send it out on my best bird."

Elise cleared a spot to write on a nearby desk and gathered up a ratting old quill and some ink. It only took her a second to write her response and she stood up, holding the parchment up to blow on it and quicken the ink's drying.

"Done," rolling up the slip she approached Violet "It's ready."

"Wonderful, let me get Reginald."

She worked herself to her feet, waving Elise off when she tried to offer assistance, and approached the cage of a fat, cawing raven without a moment's consideration of her surroundings. As chaotic as they were, she knew the raven's nest like the back of her hand.

Elise stifled a laugh as Violet muttered curses at the bird as she scrambled to get a hold of him.

"Hold him," Violet thrust the raven out to Elise, "Careful, he's a wiggly little bastard."

Elise fumbled the large bird but managed to catch her grip and held him out awkwardly so Violet could fix the rolled up message onto his leg.

"There we are, all set and ready to get your little message to the Queen herself." Violet took Reginald back and approached the only accessible window in the tower, "Please get the window for me, dear, don't want Reggie to kick up a fuss."

Elise slipped ahead of Violet and unlatched the stained glass window. The force of the wind opened it all the way, bursting into the tower and stirring up sheets of parchment all over. The ravens' caws were muted from the sheer force of the gust.

Violet set the raven free, gently raising him up with her arms to bump him into the current. She peeked out over the woman's shoulder and saw Reginald take off in the direction of Bowerstone.

"How does he know where to go, Violet?"

The old woman smiled, "He just does, can't explain it better than that. He's the best, so don't you worry, dear. That little message will reach its destination." She opened her eyes as best she could and scanned the room as Elise shut the window, "Hmmm, cursed wind, messing up hours of work!"

Elise gently touched Violet's arm, "Let me help you sort through this. It's the least I can do for your help."

Violet shuffled back into her rocking chair, humming as she went.

"I would be most grateful for the assistance, dear." She settled into a slow pace, rocking back and forth, back and forth, "But first tell me, why did you sneak up here? The attendants are an ornery lot; you risked angering them by coming up here. That message must have been very important."

Elise searched for a place to sit, but ultimately gave up and sat down on a rather sizable pile of books.

"I needed to send this message as quickly as possible. Whatever chore or task they throw at me, it doesn't matter. I'll repent for however long they say Avo demands, and it will still be worth it." Her voice was strong and unwavering, revealing surprisingly little of the lingering nerves she felt throughout her body.

Violet smiled, "Talk like that only comes from the energy of young love." She sighed, "Savour it dear, it's a wonderful thing."

Elise gave a quick, half smile, one quickly brought down by worry. "Violet, have you…ever received any ravens from Bowerstone in the past year? One's bearing the royal seal?"

She thought a moment, and then shook her head. "No, dear, can't say I have. Might be that some came through a courier but then I don't deal with those. Those fancy-pants attendants downstairs do."

"I see…"

Violet reached out and patted Elise's hand, smiling at her with a kindness Elise hadn't seen in a long time, "Don't worry, dear. Reggie might be a stubborn old thing but he's quick, quicker than he looks. You'll get your answer soon enough."

It brought a hopeful smile back to Elise, "I wish I'd met you months ago, Violet. Maybe then I wouldn't have been so lonely."

The old woman laughed a hoarse, dry chuckle that rocked her body.

"We meet people when we are supposed to, Elise dear," she coughed and relaxed in her rocker, "they come into our lives at the exact moment they are needed and if they are special they never truly leave us."

Violet's words raised Elise's spirits.

"I hope you're right."

Violet snorted, "Course I am! Mum taught me right! Now, let's get to cleaning up this mess. Wouldn't want Reggie to come back to a messy nest now wouldn't we? Bastard pigeon has high standards…"

She heaved her tired bones out of her rocker and set about tidying the mess the wind had made, grumbling all the while.

Elise set about helping her, her mind fixing on the few words she had put on that slip of parchment.

Whatever Logan felt or didn't, the thought of seeing him again filled her with happiness. The chance for happiness she'd thought long gone was before her again and she hoped her time in the temple would be considered a mere bump on her road back to him.

_A chance…however small of being with him…_

That alone was enough to hold onto for a time.


End file.
